Herein, the mechanical properties and carbonation durability of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) were studied. For the cost-efficient utilization of ECC materials, different types of specimens were cast with polypropylene (PP) and hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (HPVA) fibers. The compressive strength, Poisson’s ratio, strength-deflection curves, cracking/post-cracking strength, impact index, and tensile strain-stress curves of two types of ECC materials, with differing fiber contents of 0 vol %, 1 vol %, 1.5 vol %, and 2 vol %, were investigated with the use of compressive tests, four-point bending tests, drop-weight tests, and uniaxial tensile tests. In addition, the matrix microstructure and failure morphology of the fiber in the ECC materials were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Furthermore, carbonation tests and characterization of steel corrosion after carbonization were employed to study durability resistance. The results indicated that for both PP fiber- and HPVA fiber-reinforced ECCs, the compressive strength first increases and then decreases as fiber content increases from 0 vol % to 2 vol %, reaching a maximum at 1 vol % fiber content. The bending strength, deformation capacity, and impact resistance show significant improvement with increasing fiber content. The ECC material reinforced with 2 vol % PP fiber shows superior carbonized durability with a maximum carbonation depth of only 0.8 mm.

Initial water content significantly affects the efficiency of soil stabilization. In this study, the effects of initial water content on the compressibility, strength, microstructure, and composition of a lean clay soil stabilized by compound calcium-based stabilizer were investigated by static compaction test, unconfined compression test, optical microscope observations, environment scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The results indicate that as the initial water content increases in the range studied, both the compaction energy and the maximum compaction force decrease linearly and there are less soil aggregates or agglomerations, and a smaller proportion of large pores in the compacted mixture structure. In addition, for specimens cured with or without external water supply and under different compaction degrees, the variation law of the unconfined compressive strength with initial water content is different and the highest strength value is obtained at various initial water contents. With the increase of initial water content, the percentage of the oxygen element tends to increase in the reaction products of the calcium-based stabilizer, whereas the primary mineral composition of the soil-stabilizer mixture did not change notably.

Herein, the mechanical properties and carbonation durability of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) were studied. For cost-efficient utilization of ECC materials, polypropylene (PP) and hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers were employed to cast different types of specimens. The compressive strength, Poisson’s ratio, strength-deflection curves, cracking/post-cracking strength, impact index, and tensile strain-stress curves of the two types of ECC materials, with different fiber contents of 0 vol%, 1 vol%, 1.5 vol% and 2 vol%, were investigated by conducting compressive tests, four-point bending tests, drop weight tests, and uniaxial tensile tests. In addition, the matrix microstructure and failure morphology of the fiber in the ECC materials were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Furthermore, carbonation test and steel corrosion after carbonization were employed to study durability resistance. The results indicated that for both PP fiber- and hydrophilic PVA fiber-reinforced ECCs, the compressive strength first increases and then decreases as fiber content increases from 0 vol% to 2 vol% and reaches the maximum at 1 vol% fiber content. The bending strength, deformation capacity, and impact resistance show significant improvement with increasing fiber contents. The ECC material reinforced with 2 vol% PP fiber shows superior carbonized durability with maximum carbonation depth of only 0.8 mm.

Initial water content significantly affects the efficiency of soil stabilization. In this study, the effects of initial water content on the compressibility, strength, microstructure and composition of a lean clay soil stabilized by compound calcium-based stabilizer were investigated by static compaction test, unconfined compression test, optical microscope observations, environment scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. The results indicate that as the initial water content increases in the range studied, both the compaction energy and the maximum compaction force decrease linearly and there are less soil aggregates or agglomerations, and smaller proportion of large pores in the compacted mixture structure. In addition, for specimens cured with or without external water supply and under different compaction degrees, the variation law of the unconfined compressive strength with initial water content is different and the highest strength value is obtained at various initial water contents. With the increase of initial water content, the percentage of oxygen element tends to increase in the reaction products of the calcium-based stabilizer, whereas the crystalline mineral of the soil did not change obviously.